13. Chapter 13.

Mari's POV

"Hey you two lovebirds! Get up!"

I open my eyes and look over at the window to realize that the sun is not even out. It's still dark out. I shift my gaze a little to see Brian standing at the bottom of the bed with a smirk on his face. I look over at Zayn who looks very pissed off because he was just woken up. Well the feeling is mutual I suppose. "Why do we have to get up Brian?" I mumble before taking a pillow and putting it over my face and pulling the covers up even further.

"Because," he says before snatching the pillow away from me and throwing it across the room, "You two wanted me to help you train right? I remember two people that look a lot like you guys asking me a couple nights ago to help them become better fighters. I'm right aren't I?"

Oh yeah, I completely forgot about that. Yes...both Zayn and I asked Brian if he could train us. I only agreed with it because Zayn was worried about me and I didn't feel like fighting with him. So I just gave in and agreed to do it. Brian said that this was something that we could all partake in, especially since he believes that when we go and rescue Will it won't be necessarily easy to do.

"The sun's not even out man," Zayn groans while raking his fingers through his hair. "I don't know about you, but I like my sleep," he mumbles. "Can we please wait until...I don't know...maybe later on when I'm actually ready to wake up?"

Brian throws his head back in laughter before grabbing his chin with his fingers. A deep scowl forms on Zayn's face and that just makes Brian laugh even more. "How about this?" Brian says while raising his eyebrow, "Let's make this a little interesting?" he says and a mischievous smirk plays at the corner of his lips. "If you can pin me to the ground and hold me down for 5 seconds...then I will come back in a couple hours." A smirk spreads across Zayn's lips and I know that he is willing to accept Brian's challenge. "But if you don't kiddo, you and Mari will have to get up right now. Are you in?"

"I'm not so sure about that Brian," I say. "I mean you could get hurt ya know?" And the last thing we need right now is for someone to get hurt...

"Oh Mari," Brian laughs. "You have no idea how many fights I've been in during my lifetime." Suddenly Brian lifts up his shirt a little to reveal a scar on his stomach. My eyes widen at the sight of it because I know it probably hurt like hell. It looks like it. "Here's one of my scars that I'm particularly proud of," he says with a triumphant look on his face. "I took on 4 guys that night. Each of them had a switchblade on them and that's how I got this scar here," he says pointing at the scar. "But don't worry about me," he laughs. "You should have seen what all of them looked like after I was done with em. I always come out on top." He directs his eyes towards Zayn before smiling.

Zayn scoffs before rolling his eyes. "Don't try to show of Brian," he laughs. "But I'm in," Zayn says and before I can try to talk him out of it he is standing up by the side of the bed, in a t-shirt and sweatpants, making his way towards Brian.

"Don't come crying at to me when one of you gets hurt," I say to both of them before crossing my arms over my chest. "I don't want anything to do with this."

"Well can you at least count down Mari?" Brian says before flashing a smile at me.

"Fine."

Brian and Zayn both position themselves an equal distance apart from each other before they both get in a fighting stance. "You ready grandpa?" Zayn says before laughing.

"I'll be the one calling you grandpa after you lose," Brian replies with a daring smirk on his lips. They both look over at me before nodding their heads and I know it's my turn now I guess.

"Okay," I say before sighing. "5...4...3...2...1...Go!"

~

"I told you I would win kiddo," Brian says before laughing as we walk down the long staircase leading to the basement.

"You just got lucky," Zayn huffs before rolling his eyes.

"Sure, I got lucky," Brian says while making air quotes with his fingers. "Mari saw the whole thing. She saw you get your ass whooped Zayn. There's no need to be ashamed."

"Like I said," I intervene. " Don't bring me into this. I was just there to count, nothing else." Zayn suddenly wraps his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him before he presses his lips on my forehead. "But you were just lucky Brian. I cannot side against Zayn. He's my boyfriend after all isn't he?" I laugh.

Brian rolls his eyes as we reach the last step and continue down a long hallway. As we get closer and closer to the edge of the hallway, I hear several voices and I guess that everyone else is already down here. We turn the corner and we enter this large room with padded floors, weights, punching bags. "You never told me that he had a gym down here," I say to Zayn.

"Well he does pretty much have everything in this house doesn't he?" he laughs. "I just felt like this part wasn't very necessary. It is just a little minor detail." Okay so a full sized gym in someone's house is now considered minor?

In front of me I see all the boys', Waliyah, Safaa, Doniya, and a couple of unfamiliar faces. Doniya's eyes instantly meet mine and she rolls them. They will get stuck like that if she doesn't stop. How attractive would that be? Ha. A deep scowl sets over her face and I let out a small chuckle. Obviously some tension is still there. But I have to keep in mind that Zayn wants me and her to at least try to get along. So instead of rolling my eyes at her too, I flash her a small smile before turning my attention elsewhere. I can picture her blood boiling now and her fist clenched near her side. Point 1 for Mari.

"MARI!" I hear Louis shout before a large smile spreads across his lips. I give him a small wave and in return he makes a funny face.

"Same ole Louis," I say before laughing.

"You know it!" he says before sticking his tongue out at me. Suddenly Brian walks past me, our shoulders slightly brushing, towards the middle of the room. Everyone's conversations cease after Brian clears his throat and cracks his knuckles.

"So," Brian says, his deep voice echoing throughout the now silent room, "I'm glad you have all decided to come down this morning and participate...even though some of us wouldn't come down without a fight." Brian's eyes meet Zayn's before he laughs and claps his hands. "But hey, we are all here now aren't we?"

I take another quick glance around the room and my eyes spot a girl with pale skin, piercing green eyes and shiny platinum blonde hair cascading down her shoulders. She's very pretty...prettier than I will ever be in my entire life. My eyes look over her outfit which is a pair of spandex shorts with a very tight tank top. If she moves just the wrong way, everything could pop out of her shirt. And I mean EVERYTHING. I realize her eyes meeting the side of Zayn's face before she seductively licks her lips. Her head turns towards me and I quickly look away before she even realizes me staring at her. Who the hell is she? An unsettling feeling fills my stomach and I try to hone in on Brian's words so I can forget about the amount of uneasiness I feel.

"So first," Brian says, "Pair up-one boy and one girl in a group." Zayn quickly grabs my hand, interlacing our fingers together and the simple act makes me smile. I remember when Zayn wouldn't even acknowledge his feelings for me and now he doesn't seem to mind. That makes me so happy. Brian's eyes look at Zayn and I's hands and he shakes his head. "But absolutely no couples," he says. "We wouldn't want one of you to slack on one another would we?" I pout at Brian and he still shakes his head. "Zayn how bout you partner up with Rita? And Mari you can partner up with Niall?" The girl that I saw earlier runs over to Zayn and grabs his hand very quickly. Geez she looks even prettier close up. Her presence alone causes me to squeeze Zayn's other hand protectively and he looks over at me with a worried look on his face. I give him a small smile, trying to reassure him that everything is alright w-which it is...I suppose.

"C'mon Zayn," she says while batting her long eyelashes. Her attempt at flirting makes me wanna barf and punch her at the same time. "We can be partners." A nervous smile appears on Zayn's lips and he hesitantly let's go of my hand before beginning to walk away.

"Sorry," he mouths as he walks off with the Rita girl. The Rita girl glances back at me and flashes me a fake smile before rolling her eyes. What's her problem? I already have enough problems as it is. Suddenly I feel someone tap me on the shoulder and I turn around to find Niall with a friendly smile on his face.

"Forget about them," he says before laughing. "We are the coolest group out here."

"Yeah we are!" I say before giving him a high five, trying to rid my mind of that Rita girl. She's just some random person...

"Me and Danielle," Liam says with a playful smile on his face. I look at the girl next to him with long curly brown hair and brown eyes and I realize that she's very pretty too. I look down at my outfit and compared to them I look like a piece of shit.

"Are you sure you can take me Liam?" she asks with a daring smirk across her lips. "I don't want you to get embarrassed."

Liam scoffs and rolls his eyes before laughing. "Are you sure you can take me babe? Because I am a boxer after all."

Liam's a boxer? I take a look at Liam again who is now standing on the huge floor mat with Danielle across from him. He's standing in a fighting stance looking very comfortable and confident at the same time. I guess he could be? I mean he does have the most muscle out of all the boys.

"C'mon you two," Brian says. "Enough with your little flirting." I watch as Liam's cheeks slightly turn red and he laughs nervously. Danielle begins to crack up before flashing a soft smile at him. "Please remember not to try to kill each other. I just want to see what each of you are capable of doing and we will go from there okay?" Both Liam and Danielle nod their heads and Brian steps away from the mat before crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Whenever you two are ready."

Liam makes the first move by moving closer to Danielle and tries to grab Danielle's arm. He successfully does this, pulling her arm behind her back and trying to grab the other one as well. Danielle places her leg behind Liam's and then kicks hers up, causing him to trip and lose his balance. They both fall on the ground backwards where Liam has not loosened up his grasp on Danielle. I look over at Brian who is observing their movements very closely, nodding his head in approval after each thing happens.

"Beat his ass Danielle!" I hear Niall yell beside me before letting out a huge laugh and clapping his hands together. I find myself laughing with him because his laugh is just so contagious. I watch as Danielle tries to move enough so that she can get out of Liam's hard grip and she eventually gets one arm free. She uses this arm to roll herself over so that she is now on Liam's back. She grabs his arm and pulls it so hard behind his back that I notice Liam's face fill with pain and he squints his eyes. A little sweat has formed on both of their faces now, their breathing becoming more ragged.

Liam tries to readjust his grip on Danielle but as soon as he does I know that it was a mistake for him to do that. Danielle snatches her other am out of his grasp and forces all of her weight on Liam before grabbing his other arm, pulling it even harder if that's even possible. It appears that she is pressing all of her weight on Liam and seems to be effectively pinning him down. Even though Danielle is much smaller than Liam, she seems to know what she's doing. Of course she does since he is basically getting his ass kicked by her right now.

"Okay! Okay! You win!" Liam shouts and Danielle let's go of his arm before standing up with a satisfied look on her face.

"I told you I would win didn't I?" she says before raising her eyebrow and wiping the sweat away from her face.

"Shut up," he laughs before flicking him off. "How about you give it a try?"

Danielle turns her attention towards Niall and he laughs nervously. "Nah I'm all good man. She's all yours."

As Danielle walks off the mat, she stops in front of me with a smile on her face. "You must be Mari," she says. "I'm Danielle and I work with Brian. It's so nice to meet you!" She gives me a small hug before stepping away with an embarrassed look on her face. "Sorry I forgot that I was all sweaty," she laughs. "Sorry bout that."

"No problem," I say, flashing her a kind smile in return. "Congrats on winning against Liam. You did really well, I'm very impressed. You kicked his ass."

"Thank you," she replies. "Someone needed to show these boys' that us girls aren't all weak ya know?"

"I totally agree," I say before laughing.

I look over at Zayn and Rita and I instantly regret it. I find both of them laughing with each other, Rita playfully hitting his shoulder. She's twirling her blonde hair with her finger with a wide and bright smile on her face. She is really trying hard to keep his attention on her right now. I bite my lip in order for me to keep from saying something to the girl and I take a deep breath.

"She's been trying to make a move on Zayn ever since we got here. It's quite pathetic actually-the tight, revealing clothes that she wears whenever she's around him, the loads of makeup sometimes...it's just too much. Poor ole Zayn seems to be annoyed by it and I feel bad for him. I sure as hell am." See. I knew there was something up with her. Obviously someone has a little crush on Zayn...welp too bad for her.

"As long as I'm around," I reply before shifting my glance back over to them, "she will have to keep on dreaming because Zayn is already taken I'm afraid."

"You go girl!" Niall says before playfully punching me in the arm.

Suddenly, the door to the room swings open and I see Reyna standing in front of it with two gun in her hands, sweat on her brow. All the conversations in the room cease again and everyone turns towards Reyna with a distressed look on her face. "B-Brian," she says, "They have the place surrounded."

"Who?" Brian says while jogging towards her. No...it can't be. Before she can even say who it is I already have an idea of who it is...

"It's Damon's men...and they want Mari and Zayn." Reyna throws Brian a gun and he turns around and looks at all of us. He walks over to a wall where he flicks a small switch. Another wall on the other side of the room begins to move upwards and soon my eyes see is large repertoire of guns.

"Grab one and follow me," he demands. "Waliyah and Safaa, you two stay down here and hide. We will be back soon. Do not make a sound. Do you understand me?" Both girls nod their heads and Waliyah quickly grabs Safaa's hand before they run past Reyna and out of the room.

Next thing I know, my feet are carrying me over to the other side of the room. I grab a gun and as my hand wraps around the handle of the nice sized gun I feel more powerful. I look over to the side of me to find Zayn loading his gun with bullets with precision before cocking it. All of us run behind Brian up the long staircase and as I get closer and closer to the top...I don't know what to anticipate to happen next. But all I know is that if Damon is out there, I'm going to kill the bastard...

(hiii! so i hope ya liked this chappy! please leave a commentttt! :) thank you so much for the over 200 reads on this storyyy! that's amazinggg! :) tysm for reading this chapter! and ill see ya on monday for the next oneee! see ya later! xx)